Mindanao State University History

Mindanao State University History

            Six years after its establishment in Marawi City, the Mindanao State University created a community high school unit in General Santos City in September 1967.

            This external high school branch of MSU served as the nucleus of the present Mindanao State University in General Santos City (MSU_GSC). It grew into a junior college in 1971, but was then just limited to a two-year collegiate General Education Program. With a strong clamor from the students and the community and all out support from its constituents for the offering of the complete degree programs, the Board of Regents was prompted to study the potential of the college to academic expansion especially with the “feeder concept” adopted in 1973 was challenged.

 By virtue of BOR Resolution NO. 822, MSU community college became a full-fledged collegiate campus of the MSU system. Since then, MSU-GSC has always been characterized by its continuing commitment and dedication to the communities and served through its three-fold functions of instruction, extension, and research. Recently, in addition to the above triadic functions, its ventures into production.

            Part of its history is the series of transfers. The campus underwent vis-à-vis its continuing growth and expansion. As a community high school, it was a “squatter” at an area inside the Dadiangas West Elementary School campus. A donation of 3.3 hectares lot by the city government of General Santos gave the impetus for an expanded collegiate program. With a relatively wider space, the school was afforded the opportunity to expand academically via the offering of various collegiate degree programs. Later, the acquisition of a 156 hectare area in Tambler (now called Barangay Fatima) enabled MSU-GSC to strengthen its function of instruction, research and extension, subsequently affirming the significant role it plays within its service area. Concrete proofs of this are the establishment of its Research and Development Center, and the growth of its various colleges. Agriculture, Fisheries, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Business Administration and Accountancy, and Education and its college of Law. Moreover, it has opened post-baccalaureate in teachers’ education and public administration programs as a response to a popular demands articulated by SOCKSARAGEN teachers and government workers.

            Living up to its mission and mandate, MSU-GSC today is one of the top ranking universities in Southern Philippines.

            Such esteem emanates from the highly commendable performance of its graduates in licensure examination (Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering and Agricultural Engineering). This performance has shown that academic excellence is not the monopoly of expensive Manila-based universities and colleges.

            Above all, the university has been widely known for its concern to reach out to the community through the provision of scientific and technological know-how essential to meet the growing requirements of industries, business, and other establishments in the highly progressive beginnings, MSU-GSC has come a long way to being a leading institution worthy to be included in the list of country’s prestigious institution of higher learning.